Are you a Vietnam expert?

Hard-Deck · 10-01-2013, 05:46 AM

All:

Thanks up front for any help you may have to offer.

I am writing a paper about the Vietnamese health standard of living. I will discuss the fact that Vietnam does not have the internal capacity to manage/handle a pandemic.

If you can be a subject matter expert to help me, please PM.

Best regards, Kim

Sunroof · 10-01-2013, 06:13 AM

I could tell you what Vietnam was like back in the 60's, but I have to wonder just how much it changed to the present.

They had no landfills, garbage dumps or disposal areas because everything and I mean everything was re-used, recycled or restored. Case in point: soda/beer cans were used as insulation on walls once the two ends were cut out and the can cut in half, flattened and attached to a surface as insulation. Used rubber tires were cut to the form of a human foot print, and made into sandals using softer rubber straps to hold the toes down. We called these "Ho Chi Minh sandals"! Nothing was wasted, which might hold true today Third world economy. Health department inspectors? Never, when we ate from the street vendors.

Vietnam was not a country littered with trash, but sanitation was questionable as provisions for washing hands were absent in just about all lavatories (hole in the floor). Only your hotels and finer restaurants provided this service.

I am sure you can find much on the current state of health of Vietnam on the web. During the war your were on your own regarding risks taken eating local foods, BUT, what came to the states after the war and is popular today is the almighty "spring roll" and "soups". Yummy.

Good luck on your searches. You might be correct in saying that internally Vietnam might not have the capacity of handling an all out pandemic, but which country really can these days?

Bob

BeyGon · 06:30 PM

removed - ns

Sunroof · 06:30 PM

removed - ns

Bill Douglas · 10-01-2013, 11:19 AM

Friends went there for a holiday and toured around a lot a few months ago said the people were happy, the place was clean, and the food was EXCELLENT.

BeyGon · 06:30 PM

removed - ns

flyenby · 10-01-2013, 05:05 PM

I was there in 69-70 1st Division Combat Infantry, then with Mc Kenzie's raiders 25 th division. I agree with BeyGon

Sunroof · 06:30 PM

removed - ns

BeyGon · 06:30 PM

removed - ns

Sunroof · 06:30 PM

removed - ns

Hard-Deck · 10-01-2013, 05:37 PM

Crap, my thread has been hijacked! Thanks a lot.

matt f · 10-01-2013, 05:42 PM

The OP is looking for input for his paper.
If my memory serves me, Kim is in Newport, RI. Maybe that will tell you something.

Why don't the both of you take your personal sh&t elsewhere, like the sandbox.

matt f · 10-01-2013, 05:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Snapper33

Crap, my thread has been hijacked! Thanks a lot.

Kim, you beat me to it.
Typing at the same time.
You have a PM from me, sent a couple days ago.

Matt

Sunroof · 06:31 PM

Sorry Snapper.

removed - ns

Hard-Deck · 10-01-2013, 05:47 PM

Matt, thanks. No PM came through.

Quote:

Quote de Snapper33

Crap, my thread has been hijacked! Thanks a lot.

Kim, you beat me to it.

Typing at the same time.

You have a PM from me, sent a couple days ago.

Matt

Hard-Deck · 10-01-2013, 05:49 PM

Sunroof, thanks for your service brother. I am looking for current expertise, but I do appreciate your comments.

jcommin · jcommin's Garage

From the responses, no one is an expert. You need to look else where.

matt f · 10-01-2013, 06:03 PM

Kim,

For some reason my PM to you keeps getting sent back to me.
I had mentioned that I am in Newport 5-6x a/yr and I was going to contact you the next time I was in town for some grub and beers.
Threw bilateral pulmonary emboli, blood clots in both lungs, after a long flight.
Haven't been able to travel much lately.

Matt

Nostril Cheese · 10-01-2013, 06:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by matt f

Kim,

For some reason my PM to you keeps getting sent back to me.
I had mentioned that I am in Newport 5-6x a/yr and I was going to contact you the next time I was in town for some grub and beers.
Threw bilateral pulmonary emboli, blood clots in both lungs, after a long flight.
Haven't been able to travel much lately.

Matt

Please take care of yourself. I lost my dad the same way last year.

Sunroof, thank you for serving.

nostatic · nostatic's Garage

I don't know of any country that can handle a major pandemic.

Vietnam is nothing like it was in the 60's or even the 90's. It has changed a lot. My wife has been there fairly recently and has friends who live there. In fact some of them (artists) moved there because costs are low and the standard of living is reasonably high. From wikipedia:

In 1986, the Sixth National Congress of the Communist Party introduced socialist-oriented market economic reforms as part of the Đổi Mới reform program. Private ownership was encouraged in industries, commerce and agriculture.[106] Thanks largely to these reforms, Vietnam achieved around 8% annual GDP growth between 1990 to 1997, and the economy continued to grow at an annual rate of around 7% from 2000 to 2005, making Vietnam one of the world's fastest growing economies. Growth remained strong even in the face of the late-2000s global recession, holding at 6.8% in 2010, but Vietnam's year-on-year inflation rate hit 11.8% in December 2010, according to a GSO estimate. The Vietnamese dong was devalued three times in 2010 alone.[107]

Manufacturing, information technology and high-tech industries now form a large and fast-growing part of the national economy. Though Vietnam is a relative newcomer to the oil industry, it is currently the third-largest oil producer in Southeast Asia, with a total 2011 output of 318,000 barrels per day (50,600 m3/d).[108] In 2010, Vietnam was ranked as the 8th largest crude petroleum producers in the Asia and Pacific region.[109] Like its Chinese neighbours, Vietnam continues to make use of centrally planned economic five-year plans.

Deep poverty, defined as the percentage of the population living on less than $1 per day, has declined significantly in Vietnam, and the relative poverty rate is now less than that of China, India, and the Philippines.[110] This decline in the poverty rate can be attributed to equitable economic policies aimed at improving living standards and preventing the rise of inequality; these policies have included egalitarian land distribution during the initial stages of the Đổi Mới program, investment in poorer remote areas, and subsidising of education and healthcare.[111] According to the IMF, the unemployment rate in Vietnam stood at 4.46% in 2012.[3]